A field experiment was conducted at Agricultural College Farm, Bapatla during rabi 2021-22 to evaluate the effect of foliar nutrition and seed treatment on plant height, leaf area index and dry matter partitioning of blackgram under rainfed conditions of Andhra Pradesh. The soil subjected to the rainfed conditions are devoid of adequate amount of moisture. So, even though the fertilizers are applied through soil in adequate time and quantity, the fertilizer use efficiency decreases due to insufficient soil moisture availability. The soils of the experimental field was low in available nitrogen, medium in P2O5, high in K2O, low in organic matter and neutral to slightly alkaline in reaction. The experiment was laid out in randomized block design with nine treatment combination with foliar nutrition and seed treatment. The experimental data indicated that foliar nutrition and seed treatment significantly influenced the plant height, leaf area index (LAI) and dry matter partitioning of blackgram under rainfed conditions. The seed treatment with PPFMs @10 ml kg-1 seed fb foliar spray of 10:8:34:2 (N: P: K: S) @10 g l-1 at 45 and 60 DAS in addition to the RDF significantly recorded more plant height, LAI and dry matter at 60 DAS and harvest which was on a par with seed treatment with PPFMs @10 ml kg-1 seed fb foliar spray of 24:24:0:11(N: P: K: Zn) @10 g litre-1 at 30 40 DAS in addition to RDF (T8) and foliar spray of 10:8:34:2 (N: P: K: S) @10 g litre-1 at 45 and 60 DAS in addition to RDF (T6).

Blackgram, PPFMs, Foliar nutrition, Rainfed, LAI

From the experimental results it can be concluded that the Foliar application of 10:8:34:2 (N:P:K:S) @ 10 g litre-1 applied at 45 and 60 DAS when combined with seed treatment with PPFMs @ 10g kg-1 seeds in addition to RDF recorded significantly highest growth parameters in terms of plant height (cm), Leaf Area Index, and Total drymatter production (kg ha-1). However the results were on a par with the foliar nutrition of 24:24:0:11 (N: P: K: Zn) @ 10 g litre-1 applied at 30 and 40 DAS.

Niharika Das, M. Ratnam, S. Prathibhasree and P. Mohana Rao (2022). Effect of Seed Treatment and Foliar Nutrition on Plant Height, Leaf Area Index and Dry Matter Partitioning of Blackgram. Biological Forum – An International Journal, 14(4a): 518-520.